Receiving Body
Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Report Type
Complaint
Tags
On June 7, 2024, officers at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility (BFDF) retaliated against approximately 40 detained engaged in their First Amendment-protected right to peacefully hunger strike. Detained people were protesting the discontinuance of free phone calls to family and the BFDF policy of indiscriminately locking people in cells for approximately 18 hours per day.
BFDF officials retaliated against hunger-striking people with force, solitary confinement, and denial of access to jobs, recreational activities, and the law library. The abuse continued a well-documented history at BFDF of suppression of free speech against detained people who file grievances, hunger strike, and otherwise peacefully assert their rights.
In response to BFDF’s mass suppression of constitutional rights, RFK Human Rights, Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Justice for Migrant Families filed a federal civil rights complaint to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
The complaint details civil rights and civil liberties abuses at BFDF, including abuse of authority and official position; harmful and punitive conditions of detention; lack of due process; excessive use of force; and violations of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and the Fourth Amendment right to freedom from unreasonable seizure.
What solutions exist?
Under international human rights law, immigration detention should only be used as a matter of last resort. In its place, community-based programs that provide services like legal information, mental health services, screening for indicia of human trafficking, and updates and information on court scheduling have returned a 100% appearance rate in immigration court at a fraction of the cost of detention.
On the road to ending immigration detention, this complaint requests that CRCL investigate the pattern of suppression of free speech rights at BFDF and that BFDF immediately:
- Cease its policy of indiscriminate lock-ins for 18 hours;
- Reinstate provision of free phone calls to family;
- Cease the threat and use of force and solitary confinement in retaliation for peaceful hunger strikes.
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July 2024
Federal Civil Rights Complaint to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on behalf of people detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York
Advocates Demand Investigation into ICE’s Retaliation and Abuse Against Hunger Strikers at Buffalo Detention Center
Investigative Post: ICE’s extensive use of solitary confinement in Batavia
Advocacy groups urge the United Nations to address United States’ escalating abuse of immigrants, asylum seekers
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New York Civil Liberties Union
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) advances civil rights and civil liberties so that all New Yorkers can live with dignity, liberty, justice, and equality.
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Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Justice for Migrant Families
JFMF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency that promotes justice for migrant families by providing support to individuals in the federal detention facility in Batavia, information and resources to families in the community, and advocacy both within and beyond the local community.
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Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York
PLSNY’s mission is to provide high quality, effective legal representation and assistance to indigent prisoners, help them to secure their civil and human rights, and advocate for more humane prisons and for a more humane criminal justice system.